Legal Research Week 3 Case Law

Case Law What it is How to Locate How to Read How to Brief/summarize How to Use case law in legal analysis

CASE LAW –WHAT IT IS Written decision from an appeal or similar proceeding that is A. Published and B. Final C. Majority or plurality decision Compare to concurring and dissenting opinions Comes from Court of Appeals or Supreme Court (either state or federal)

Effect of Stare Decisis Cases that are stare decisis are MANDATORY authority Other cases can be cited a Persuasive authority

Stare Decisis – Federal Cases U.S. Supreme Court decisions binding on all federal and state courts U.S. Federal Courts of Appeals Decisions binding only on trial courts in same circuit Decisions may be binding on state court in circuit if constitutional or federal issue

Stare Decisis--California U.S. Supreme Court Cases—stare decisis on all courts California Supreme Court Stare decisis for all California appellate and superior court California Courts of Appeal Stare decisis for all Superior Courts

Final Decisions No case is “case law” until and unless it is final Cases are not final if Higher court has granted review Deciding court grants a rehearing

Locating Case Law By citation (in print or online) Obtained through secondary source Obtained through code annotations By Full Text search (online only)

Case Law Publication Slip Opinions Case Reporters Official vs. Unofficial Advance Sheets Internet Westlaw and Lexis Free Sources

Features of Fee-based Publications Editorial enhancements Summaries headnotes

California Case Reporters Official: California Reports (Cal.) California Supreme Court Cases California Appellate Reports (Cal. App.) California Appellate Court Cases Unofficial: California Reporter (Cal. Rptr.) California supreme and appellate decision after 1959 Pacific Reporter (P.) California Supreme Court cases California Appellate court cases before 1959 D.A.R.

Free Internet Access California Federal Google Scholar

Cite: SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES _________________ No. 01–7574 _________________ DAVID ALLEN SATTAZAHN, PETITIONER v. PENNSYLVANIA ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA, EASTERN DISTRICT [January 14, 2003]

Reading A Case Identify majority/plurality decision from concurring or dissenting opinions Identify the deciding court and distinguish what lower courts did and said from what this court says and does Identify the parties—at trial and at all levels of appeal Identify the legal issues or questions to be decided Identify the holding or answer to questions Summarize the reasons

Texas v. Johnson G5ixr1gMs G5ixr1gMs

Briefing a Case Summary of important parts of case Not a formal court document No absolute format

Components of a Case Brief—One Format Judicial History Facts Issues Rules Analysis Conclusion © 2000 by Prentice-Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458

Case Brief—Other Format Judicial History Facts Issue Holding (Conclusion) Rationale Rules the Court Relies On Analysis of Rules

Judicial History Reflects the appellate process Case will be either appeal or writ This is what happened before case was heard by deciding court (published case)

Judicial History—Gideon in text (pg 88) Trial Court: Appellate Court: Supreme Court granted certiorari. Do NOT give the Supreme Court’s final decision

Judicial History--Morse Pg. 583 in text

Writing a Factual Statement Types of Facts found in cases: relevant, explanatory and non-essential Use only relevant and explanatory facts Determining Relevancy Look to the issue

Facts for Gideon and Morse

24 Issue The Question Presented Legal issues are specific questions raised by the facts. Issues may also be thought of as the questions the parties to a lawsuit bring to the court for resolution. © 2000 by Prentice-Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458

Issue - BE SPECIFIC NEVER ask, “Did the trial court/appellate court err?” Legal question + determinative facts Always unique to the case Put it in question format A proper issue tells you all about the case

Example-- LOPEZ Is the Gun Free Zone Act, which makes it a crime to possess of a gun near a school, a constitutional exercise of congressional power to regulate interstate commerce? Can you tell what this case is about?

Gideon and Morse

Holding/Conclusion This is the answer to the question raised in the issue, put in complete sentence format:

Another example HOLDING -- LOPEZ The Gun Free Zone Act is unconstitutional because it is not within the congressional power to regulate interstate commerce.

Rationale This is really a summary of the whole opinion. Include the rules the court relies on (cases, codes or constitution) Explain how the court analyzes these rules

Review Appendix G for examples

FINDING AND USING CASE LAW Case law is used to provide an answer to a legal dispute resulting from a set of facts Both finding and using case law relates to the facts of your case

BEFORE YOU BEGIN Review the factual situation Determine if the factual situation is controlled by federal law or by state law or by both Use research books that contain the proper law © 2000 by Prentice-Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458

FINDING CASE LAW Annotated Codes (found by using topical indexes) Secondary Sources (found by using topical indexes) Online full-text searching Topical index words come from your facts

Online—full-text searching Natural Language v. Boolean (Terms and Connectors) Practice Worksheet

USING CASE LAW Rule of stare decisis requires that you compare the facts and issues of your case to the case law Case law used in various briefs/ memoranda of law--

EXAMPLE Comparison of case with Terry v. Ohio Like Officer McFadden in Terry, Officer Rose was conducting a lawful pat search when he felt an object in the outside pocket of Respondent's very fine nylon jacket (T. 9). Also, like Officer McFadden, Officer Rose testified that he was able to identify the seized object because of its distinctive shape and consistency (T. 9-10). The difference between this case and Terry is that the item seized in this case was a controlled substance rather than a weapon. n15

The Starting Point Discovering the facts of your case Client, witnesses, investigation, discovery, transcripts Initially analyzing and sorting your facts Relevant Explanatory Non-essential Initially identifying issue

Practice Hypothetical in appendix B—and Morse case

Sorting the Facts Relevant Facts: are absolutely essential, they cannot be ignored Explanatory Facts: clarify the relevant facts Non-essential Facts: play no real role in the legal situation (not too many in case law) © 2000 by Prentice-Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458

STEP 1: SORT Case law FACTS STEP 2: SORT Client’s FACTS Relevant: Explanatory Non-Essential

STEP 3- COMPARE FACTS MorseSpeeker FACTUAL SIMILARITIES FACTUAL DIFFERENCES UNKNOWNS

STEP 4 – WRITE ISSUE (i.e. Did the school violate Speeker’s First Amendment rights in suspending Speeker students received extra credit for attending?) RULE (This is the holding of Morse and other cases) Application (This is where you compare and distinguish your facts; if facts are different also refer to relevant statements from the rationale of the cases) Conclusion (Answer the question you present in issue.)